Tuesday, 28 April 2009

A Day in Federal Court: Its Ding Dong Bell, the Perak Crisis is STILL in the Well !

The Federal Court today sent back the 'MB versus MB' case to the Kuala Lumpur High Court for the second time, after dismissing Perak Menteri Besar Zambry Abd Kadir's application for a fastrack hearing to consider constitutional issues.

In his ruling, Justice Alauddin Mohd Sheriff said this was an unanimous decision by the five- member panel.

Alauddin said the court decided this matter based on the preliminary objection and NOT the merits to Zambry's application.

Nizar, who maintains he is the rightful mentri besar, is suing Zambry for usurping his office as he has yet to officially quit the post.

The panel of five judges led by Tan Sri Alauddin Mohd Sheriff noted “there exists disputes of facts yet to be determined by the High Court” when rejecting Zambry’s application to interpret several Constitutional questions.

Lawyers for Nizar told reporters later the “disputed facts” were over conflicting accounts of what had taken place at a meeting between Nizar and the Sultan of Perak in early February when the former had asked for the State Legislative Assembly to be dissolved, paving the way for fresh elections throughout the state.

The Perak State Legal Advisor Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid had filed an affidavit claiming Nizar had admitted he no longer commanded the confidence of the majority in the State Assembly during his meeting with the Sultan.

But Nizar disagreed with Ahmad Kamal’s version of the affair and filed an affidavit on April 21 detailing what he discussed with Sultan Azlan Shah on February 4 and 5.

Nizar is seeking a court order to cross-examine Ahmad Kamal to reveal what really took place in his meetings with the monarch on those two days, which appears to be a crucial point leading to the Perak Constitutional crisis.

Sulaiman Abdullah, lawyer for Nizar, told reporters the judge should be given the chance to hear both versions “orally” in order to decide who is to believed. Sulaiman pointed out:

“Let us not make any mistake. This is an account made by two opposing parties. It is not one contestant against a neutral party.

Datuk Kamal by no stretch of the imagination is neutral in this context because he has consistently taken the stand he has to represent Datuk Zambry.”